Lockheed Martin, PG&E Corporation, Salesforce, and Wells Fargo are teaming up on a new venture called Emberpoint, a project they say will fuse military-grade sensing, utility operations, and commercial AI into a single wildfire response platform. The companies say Emberpoint is supposed to link satellites, drones, ground sensors, and agent-based software into one real-time system that helps firefighters spot hot spots sooner and focus on the most dangerous edges of a blaze. Company representatives say the team and technologies will be assembled over the coming months, with public demonstrations targeted for 2026.
In a press release, Wells Fargo Newsroom said Emberpoint will lean on artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and integrated command-and-control technology to help first responders detect fires earlier and coordinate response efforts. The announcement said the partners have committed "upwards of $100 million" to get the venture off the ground, with Wells Fargo providing capital investment for the initial build-out. Company materials framed Emberpoint as a way for agencies and utilities to tap advanced firefighting tools without each one having to develop the systems from scratch.
“The ultimate vision is, you know, eliminating megafires in the United States, and maybe beyond that,” Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet told the Los Angeles Times, underscoring how ambitious the partners say they want to be. The paper reported that Emberpoint’s first offering will center on firefighting intelligence rather than direct suppression, putting early emphasis on prediction and situational awareness. That means faster detection and tools that help incident commanders decide where to send crews and aircraft first.
In the companies' announcement on PR Newswire, Lockheed Martin said it will bring layered prediction and detection capabilities along with autonomous response systems. Salesforce will provide the digital backbone, using Agentforce and Slack to unify disparate data streams. Pacific Gas and Electric Company will contribute its on-the-ground wildfire mitigation experience, with the company stressing that any operational role is subject to regulatory review. The partners described Emberpoint’s initial product as "firefighting intelligence," tools designed to speed decision-making for fire crews and incident commanders.
PG&E's Role And Regulatory Hurdles
In the PR Newswire announcement, PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe said the utility plans to seek regulatory approval to share certain operational data with Emberpoint so the venture’s tools can draw on utility information in real time. "We can actually share and return to our customers the investments they've made in wildfire technology," Poppe said in the release. The companies also emphasized that EMBERPOINT™ is a separate commercial venture that is not itself regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, a distinction intended to separate PG&E’s regulated utility responsibilities from the new business.
Why The Timing Matters
The companies are positioning Emberpoint as a response to increasingly destructive fire seasons that have cost lives, destroyed homes, and triggered billions of dollars in damage. The Los Angeles Times pointed to last year’s Eaton and Palisades fires as part of that backdrop, noting that together the blazes killed more than two dozen people, destroyed over 16,000 structures, and helped drive estimated losses into the hundreds of billions of dollars. That scale of destruction has pushed defense contractors, major tech firms, and big banks to test AI tools, satellite imagery, and autonomous aircraft as part of a broader wildfire toolkit.
How Emberpoint Says It Will Work
According to the Wells Fargo release, Emberpoint is designed to blend satellite and imagery data with drones, sensors, and AI agents that sift through multiple data feeds and surface the most urgent risks to crews in the field. Salesforce’s platforms are expected to centralize those feeds into a single response engine, while Slack will serve as a coordination hub across organizations, the companies say. Lockheed executives have suggested that combining military-grade sensor fusion with autonomous assets could help responders reach dangerous areas faster with more precise information.
Company leaders acknowledge the project still faces major technical and governance hurdles before it can scale. Regulatory approvals, compatibility with public agencies, and community trust will all shape how any rollout actually looks. For now, Emberpoint stands as a rare coalition of defense, utility, tech, and finance players betting heavily on a technology-driven approach to a problem that continues to cost California dearly. The partners say they plan to build out the Emberpoint team over the coming months and stage demonstrations later in 2026.
